Greenspond NL…..Hub of the North

Greenspond was first settled in the1690s and is situated in the Bonivista North area on the northeast coast of Newfoundland.

I recommend this community for your staycation 2020. Scenic…at times wild…… at times serene, but never dull to your senses.

Beautiful Greenspond, NL

Check out Ida’s Place before you hike, that way you will at least burn off some of the calories!

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Check out their Facebook page, go talk to the owners, inquire about their story….I discovered I had both people AND place connections to both husband and wife! Ask about the history of the house, sit, relax and enjoy.

We first attempted to walk the Greenspond Hiking Trail in August of 2016, but the wind and rain were so ferocious that we had to turn back. We finally completed it a couple of weeks ago. My phone with my Map My Walk App died shortly after beginning the trail and I didn’t log my kms, but I was told that the trail is 6 kms in length.

Greenspond Hiking Trail

Walk the beautiful trail, check out the B & Bs, visit Hub of the North Restaurant and Hotel, do a walkabout, check out the wildflowers, talk to the locals, embrace the ocean with Come from Away Boat Tours, learn about the history of Greenspond and thoroughly enjoy your visit, as we did.

For additional information on Greenspond, please check out my blog post of August 30, 2016.

Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventures.

Chile…….a culinary tale.

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When we weren’t hiking the trails, mountains and in the villages with Foothills Hiking Chile, we were walking in San Fernando, in Santa Cruz, in Chimbarongo and in Santiago. In San Fernando, we happened upon a lovely restaurant and had dinner there. Most of the restaurants around our hotel in San Fernando were of the fast food variety, so we were ready for a nice dinner and my husband, somehow learning from the waiter that this dish contained meat, promptly ordered it.

Chorrillana is a Chilean dish that is made with french fries topped with different kinds of meat, sausages, caramelized onions and right at the top…..two fried or scrambled eggs.

A lovely salad.

Pepino Dulce

We purchased this at the supermercado (supermarket) across from Hotel Espanol. It is a fruit that tastes like a cucumber.

Begging for this cup at the cafe that we visited did not sway the server….. “No, no, no, I cannot sell it.”

This was our own delicious feast that we bought at the market……it went over very well for our Happy Hour.

Milk and tea…..a great way to learn Spanish.

Market San Fernando

San Fernando Market

Dried apricots?

I bought these at the market and was told to boil them for an hour and sprinkle with cinnamon…. I believe they were some variety of apricot.

I love this picture. I asked if I could take her picture and she was so pleased.

Market San Fernando

The ‘mason jar’ bag ( a gift from my daughter) came in handy when I bought olives at the market.

Wine Festival in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz

Using a hairdryer to rekindle the barbecue coals.

Dinner Casuela de Ave

Cooking Class Foothills Hikiing

Casuela de Ave

Cooking Class….Cazuela de Ave

Cazuela de Ave is the national dish of Chile. Chicken, vegetables, salt and pepper, cloves, coriander, paprika is used in this recipe, where we would probably use turnip, butternut squash or pumpkin is used. I don’t know if turnip is grown in Chile, but there was none to be found in the supermarkets or local market.

Stout beer mixed with condensed milk

……a new drink.

In the little mountain village of Termas del Falco, the electricity is only on between 8 pm and midnight. This little bar had a interesting refreshment…a stout beer mixed with a can of condensed milk. Ordinarily a blender would be used, but because there was no power at this time of day, it was simply whisked with a fork.

20190312_115258 (768x1024) — Mote Con Huesillo

While we were seeing the historic San Cristobal Hill in Santiago, we saw people drinking this interesting concoction …roughly translated it is peaches with wheat. The ingredients are dried peach halves, sugar, cinnamon stick, lemon or orange peel, water and one cup cooked pearl barley or wheat berries. It is very, very popular in Chile and while I enjoyed it, I don’t think it would be a favourite of mine.

A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch.

Chile you were an amazing experience.

Cull’s Point Lookout Trail

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….gets some clearing and some new signs.

The trail from the sign in to the actual lookout is approximately 1/2 km and today is still snow covered in places.

We are very fortunate here in the Cove that in 1977, Kevin Head and 15 others developed this trail as a part of a summer works program. Later Gordon White, Keith Copper and others involved with the town council at the time (still gathering information on this) made the trail longer and it now goes around the headlands and coves, ending near the Wild Bight Road. This is not a long trail, ( approximately 3 km return) but I find it quite relaxing and peaceful.

Rock along the trail

Tenacity

New signs

New sign

Sea Stack

This first lookout along the trail is perhaps my favourite. It is a great place to stop and maybe have a cup of tea, being careful not to go too close to the edge of the cliff. Later there will probably be an Osprey’s nest on the top of the sea stack. We have stopped to watch the birds guard the nest when out in our boat.

Lichen on White Spruce

Lichen on White Spruce

I absolutely love this lichen on the white spruce and want to decorate them with red berries. 🙂

These windfalls and others have now been cleared.

A beautiful day, sunny and warm on March 31!

The trail as of today is quite slippery in places. Hiking stick(s) and cleats are recommended.

20190331_115434 (576x1024) — Doctor’s Hill

In the background you can see Doctor’s Hill

Is there anything that is better than to be out walking in the clear air? In Praise of Walking by Thomas A. Clark

Finding Dinosaur Tracks in the Andes…

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..from Newfoundland to Chile Part IV.

Dinosaur Tracks Foothills Hiking

The hike in Termas del Flaco , described below, was indeed an adventure and in some ways surreal. Seeing dinosaur tracks in the longest mountain chain in the world, left behind by creatures that walked the earth when South America and Africa formed one tectonic plate, was pretty spectacular! Chile

…….this is an endeavour for the obsessed or the adventurous but no matter who you are, you will be left amazed by the visible footprints left by dinosaurs some 150 million years ago. All you’ve ever wanted to Know about Dinosaurs in Chile HelenLCordery

But before we could start our hike we had to travel to Termas del Flaco. This in itself is somewhat of an adventure. The dirt road is approximately 77 km, narrow and winding …looking down is sometimes not advisable. It allows only one way traffic. If you are up at Termas del Flaco, you must leave to come down by 2’clock so those below can start the journey up the mountain by 4 pm. Both ends are monitored by police. Termas del Flaco – dangerous roads Chile Truthfully it wasn’t that bad and we had the utmost confidence in our driver, Jose from Foothills Hiking.

The road up to the village is only open from December to April and during the winter (May to November), the people all move down to San Fernando/Puente Negro and the surrounding area.

First we had to wait until the traffic jam dispersed.:)

Bringing the sheep down for the winter

Traffic Jam

A difficult drive.

Coming down from the Termas del Flaco area

Down for the winter.

Waiting our turn to take the road up to Termas del Flaco

Hiking to the dinosaur tracks

I found the mixture of brilliant sun and then shade from the mountain peaks fascinating.

“Awesome is Everywhere”

Far below in the village of Termas del Flaco is a sanatorium that was built in the 1930s. It was never opened and never used.

Andes

Dinosaur tracks

We made it!

Hiking to the dinosaur tracks

Foothills Hiking Chile

Foothills Hiking Chile

We rock!

I really don’t know how Johanna will celebrate her next birthday!

This world is an offering to you.

El Milagro de los Andes……from Newfoundland to Chile Part III

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Mosaic depicting Uruguay Plane Crash — Visiting the mural

Day four with Foothills Hiking Chile involved a 3 1/2 hour hike around Puente Negro itself; and while there were so many interesting things covered on this trek, the most haunting and memorable experience was entering the Plaza del Arriero and finding the
mural depicting the 1972 Uruguay Air crash.

I had heard of this horrific, yet beautiful and amazing story before but never, never did I ever think I would be this close to where it actually happened.

Elizabeth telling us the details of the crash and the history behind this beautiful mural.

Mosaic depicting Uruguay Plane Crash

The mosaic begins with the Uruguayan flag and ends with the Chilean flag and is 48 meters long. It depicts the crash site, the walk out and the rescue, as well as, the rugged mountain ranges of the Andes and the birds, flora and fauna. Pedro Marchant is the designer of the mosaic but other artists worked on it. We were so awe struck and interested in this aspect of our hike that unfortunately we did not get great pictures!

The activity of the Puente Negro community was actively participated, an opportunity in which the mural designed by Professor Pedro Marchant was inaugurated and executed by the Fabiola Diaz graduate in arts.

For his part, Professor Pedro Marchant, said the mosaic begins with the Uruguayan flag and ends with the Chilean flag,…………………The teacher of the Lyceum Neandro Schilling explained that when designing the mural he wanted to incorporate a series of episodes that marked the accident and subsequent rescue, not leaving aside our flora and fauna. “in the work could not be absent the rugged mountain ranges, the condor, the guanaco and the puma,” Merchant said.

Meanwhile, the artist Fabiola Diaz, said that “we have been working for some time on the patrimonial rescue and this work is added to the sculpture in tribute to the muleteers that exists in this square.”

Diaz explained that “as a part of the rescue of the historical heritage of this event that impacted the world, it was decided to make this mosaic to create a new tourist attraction, along with being able to share this beautiful technique with the inhabitants of Puente Negro.”

The mural was financed by Tinguiririca Energia and the Villas Cordilleras Commiittee, with the support of the Pro sewage Committee and the Municipality of San Fernando.

The information above was taken from this site https://cronicanoticiosa.com/ which reported from Chile on the murals. I used Google translator to translate from Spanish to English. It gives some very important information on the creation of the mural.

Muleteers sculptors in the park. Elizabeth told us they were all made from scrap metal…just beautiful.

In October of 1972 the Old Christians Rugby team from Uruguay chartered a Uruguayan Air Force plane to fly them to Santiago, Chile for a rugby match………they never made it. The plane crashed in the Andes due to weather and pilot error. Sixteen out of the forty-five survived and stayed alive for over two months in the most brutal conditions!

The details and story of this horrific crash have been documented many times….in newspaper articles, books and movies.

These books may be at your local library. I know they can be ordered through Amazon.

I highly recommend watching the movie Alive which can be purchased through Amazon and also can be found on Apple TV to rent or buy. There are also many news articles and interviews about/with some of the survivors, especially Dr. Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado.

Every day when I look at myself in the mirror, I thank God the same old jerk is still staring back at me. Dr. Roberto Canessa

“As we used to say in the mountains, “Breathe. Breathe again. With every breath, you are alive.” After all these years, this is still the best advice I can give you: Savor your existence. Live every moment. Do not waste a breath.” Nando Parrado

El Milagro de los Andes————Miracle of the Andes.

From Newfoundland to Chile….Part II

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Foothills Hiking is located in Puente Negro, Chile. Puente Negro is approximately 17 km from San Fernando, the capital city of the province of Colchagua.

As a part of our package with Foothills Hiking , we stayed at Cabanas Puente Negro and the owners Eugenio and Paula were friendly, helpful and kind despite our not speaking Spanish! Communication was always a challenge wherever we went, but with Google translator, much laughter and frustration we managed.

Our cabin and surroundings in Puenta Negro

Cabanas Puente Negro

The grounds are quite interesting with cows, horses, dogs, cats, bulls and hens. Quite often the cats would lie on our doorstep and the hens would fly up from the bushes as we walked up to the main house for our breakfast! The sunrise over the mountains was always spectacular and breakfast was delicious and soooo much fun! Meeting strangers at 7:30 am can be awkward but both Paula and Eugenio made us feel at home.

Lighting the heater in our cabin so we could shower, breakfast and a display of teapots to make me feel at home.

20190304_080248 (576x1024) — Mate/Donkey Tea!!!

Eugenio, using many antics, made us mate tea ……. describing it as ‘donkey tea’…make you kick up your heels like a donkey!

It is made from steeping dried yerba mate leaves in hot water and is served in a cup with a straw, the straw was traditionally made of silver. Today it can be made of nickel silver, stainless steel or hollow stemmed cane. The cup is shared by everyone at the table. We laughed so much this morning that we barely had energy to hike.

Our cabin and surroundings in Puenta Negro

Cabanas Puente Negro

Our cabin and surroundings in Puenta Negro

Meeting Elizabeth and Jose of Foothills Hiking

Cabanas Puente Negro

Breakfast at 7:30 and then the morning hike began at 8:30.

Hiking with Foothills Hiking

Hiking with Foothills Hiking

Birds, espino trees, eucalyptus, an interesting fence, beautiful mountain peaks and sunshine are all a part of the hike today.

Bathing our feet in the Rio Claro

Bathing our feet in the Rio Claro

“I grew up in this town, my poetry was born between hill and river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests.” Pablo Neruda

Please click the link above for more information on Foothills Hiking and follow my blog for more posts on our adventure in Chile.

From Newfoundland to Chile…….

an awesome journey and a great hiking experience. Part I

Chile is the longest country in the world, 4000 km north to south and only 200 km east to west. It lies between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes mountains to the east.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinationRedirector?openMap=true&ethylCobjId=701

My sister happened upon Foothills Hiking Chile through their Facebook page and wanted to do something different for her 75th birthday……..so off we went. Well it wasn’t quite that simple….a 4 1/2 drive across the island, a 3 1/2 hr flight to Toronto and then a 10 1/2 hr flight to Santiago.

My husband joined us and we flew to Santiago, took a bus to San Fernando and on day three, were picked up by Elizabeth and Jose who run Foothills Hiking out off Puente Negro. Foothills Hiking

This seven day/6 night hiking adventure is filled with great hikes, cultural experiences. visits to a winery, cooking class, horseback riding, star gazing; and a journey up a bumpy mountain road to Termas del Flaco where we hiked up the mountain to see the dinosaur tracks. Elizabeth and Jose make it all seem so easy. Laughter and comradery filled the days as we hiked and learned.

We hiked in the mornings as the afternoons were quite hot.

Chile Puente Negro Foothills Hiking

First hike with Foothills Hiking

Drying plums for prunes

” He who does not travel, who does not read, who does not listen to music, who does not find grace in himself, she who does not find grace in herself, dies slowly.” Pablo Neruda

Chile Puente Negro Foothills Hiking

Dogs run wild here but are quite friendly.

Lapwings

Jose and Elizabeth are to be applauded for starting recycling in Puente Negro. I believe that others have joined to help them with the program now and it is great to see.